Letter: Please protect access to birth control

As the child of a 15 and 17 year old, I understand how my parents’ lives could have been different if there had been more ready access to birth control.

My professional journey has included administrative responsibility for a local teen parent program which provides on-site child care for middle and high school students. Birth control is tremendously important to the health and welfare of our community for all kinds of reasons, including the need to control certain medical conditions, like treating endometriosis, menstrual pain, menstrual regulation and to plan our families. Under the birth control benefit, women had access to this important preventative care at no cost. Virtually all, (99 percent) of American women between the ages of 15 and 44 have used birth control at some time.

The recent ruling by the Supreme Court allows for-profit private corporations the right to deny coverage of birth control for their employees, for no reason other than the personal religious beliefs of the corporations’ owners. This will greatly affect women, especially those who work in low-wage jobs and rely on their health insurance to be able to afford birth control. As the mother of three daughters, please protect their access to care.